The Movie:
Nowadays there's an awful lot of talk about movies being "throwbacks" to earlier genre films. Horror movies are being referred to as in the vein of "grindhouse" or of the early slasher variety. While I can appreciate that and there have been some good movies to reference these styles, it's starting to get a little into overkill territory. Where the eighties had a glut of the slasher films on video, which ended up pretty much suffocating the genre until no one cared anymore, now the resurgence is starting again; except that "straight to video" has turned into "straight to dvd." Taking an opportunity to cash in on this is Wedding Slashers; molded in the same vein as those direct to video timewasters where the box cover art promised a movie that inside didn't even come close to doing the art justice.

All her life Jenna (Jessica Kinney) has longed to fall in love. Unfortunately just when she starts to fall for the guy, along comes a maniac to brutally kill him. Thinking that love may still conquer all, Jenna leaves her family and becomes engaged to Alex (Ross Kelly). Even though she still has reservations, they plan the wedding and all goes well until Jenna spies her family outside the church on the big day. Bodies start dropping and it's up to Jenna to face her family once and for all to put an end to the bloodshed.

Since the movie tries to put plot twists into the script I won't go into too much more detail. What I will say is that the plot twists don't amount to much anyway, and some of them just simply make no logical sense at all. What the movie lacks in the plot department it tries to make up for with the gore quotient. Some of the kills are pretty good, if still low budget, and then some are just sad. The acting is also hit and miss. The lead actors are pretty good for low budget standards and then there are the supporting cast who really could've used a few lessons here and there. Speaking of supporting cast, there's also Richard Lynch showing up in the third act for a brief cameo as Jenna's father. Lynch was always a decent bad guy, showing up in Bad Dreams and Trancers 2 in the eighties, yet now relegated to doing a job like this just for the paycheck. Ah well, at least he seems the most professional of the group, even for a few minutes. Wedding Slashers also tried, I think, to possibly make it into a sort of cult item by having the family members have distinct killer names like "Sock Monkey" and "The Mortician". A goofy ploy that really doesn't work at all; whenever they were on screen about to make their kills, I felt like I wasn't watching a movie so much as watching some guys at a haunted forest on Halloween doing their schtick. It didn't add to the charm, only to help point out the movie's shortcomings.

The DVD

Video:
As this was straight to dvd, it appears shot on hi def, but certainly not film. Colors are saturated and the lighting gives everything a hue around it, when it's not just simply lit too bright altogether. Picture is 16x9 widescreen but could've been full screen and it wouldn't have lost any information.

Sound:
There's a 5.1 surround mix included, which really just comes through in the front speakers and serves to enhance the bass. The other option is Dolby Digital.

Extras:
The extras include two trailers, one theatrical R rated and the other an unrated cut. Of course, the trailers make the movie seem more exciting and witty than it actually is, but the unrated version includes more clips of gore and nudity. There's also a few deleted scenes that simply amount to more exposition, but don't add anything to the overall film itself.

Final Thoughts:
It may sound like I'm being harder on this movie than I should. The beginning set up was fine, and there was a moment of great humor involving a child and a truck that I thought would let me know what sensibility this movie was going to have. Unfortunately it couldn't sustain that wry momentum very long and it simply degenerated into a low grade, typical slasher film with nothing new to offer. I'll grant you there are definitely worse direct to-- product out there; 555 and Killing Spree come to mind for you old schoolers out there. It just seems like after all this time someone could come up with a slightly new take on the formula, or at the very least not make so much of the same thing. If you're in the slasher mood you could do worse, so I say rent it with reservations.